It’s that million dollar question: What would you do if your significant other cheated on you? We’re not just talking a peck on the cheek here, but a full-on emotional and physical affair.
Everybody thinks they have an answer to this proposition, but when it comes down to it, it’s impossible to really know how you would react. In her new novel “Heart of the Matter,” Emily Giffin explores the many facets of cheating and examines the intricate way it can connect two lives.
Tessa Russo is a devoted surgeon’s wife and mother of two, dealing with a recent status change from working mom to stay-at-home mom. Her husband is the handsome and talented Nick Russo, a surgeon specializing in pediatric burns. When Nick takes on the case of Charlie, a young boy who has suffered burns on his face and hand as the result of falling into a campfire, he has no idea the effect that little boy and his mother, Valerie Anderson, will have on his life. Disenchanted with his life at home, where Tessa seems to want to dictate every last detail of their every moment, Nick turns to Valerie (and Charlie) to find comfort and escape. But what he mistakes for love could end up destroying the life he and Tessa have worked so hard for.
The final decision is left to Tessa, who is torn between her love for her husband (or the love they used to have) and her fear of being unable to trust him again.
Cheating is not a new subject to explore, and at first glance this story seems like a textbook tale of infidelity. What is different here is the way Giffin weaves between the perspectives of both women. She has the ability to point out the fragility of life without directly saying it, which is a testament to her superior writing skills.
The one negative point about this novel is how familiar Giffin’s characters are. There is no element of escapism, no level of surreality. Her writing is almost too good, making readers want to take a second look at their own lives and also making them question their own morals and standards when it comes to being unfaithful.
Giffin’s true gift, though, seems to be creating powerful female characters. Both Tessa and Valerie are strong, independent women who still desire something more — in this case, Nick. Where she is lacking is with Nick’s point of view. It can surely be argued that the story is not really about him, but the way his actions and motives are treated make him seem like an insignificant bystander. For example, Nick goes completely MIA at points, and there is no reconciling this for the discerning reader. This happens repeatedly as the story unfolds; he is all but ignored except for when his presence will thicken the plot. This aspect of Giffin’s writing is difficult to accept, because it is Nick’s actions and motives, after all, that are the catalysts that began the entire situation in the first place.
Even with that oversight, “Heart of the Matter” is a well-crafted, well-written tale of happiness, unhappiness, forgiveness and redemption, worth giving a chance.
Rating: W W W W
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